[QUOTE=Too bad steam is gone;97114]Some people WIII judge you on your degree, ABS for example. You might know how finish Einsteins unified theory but they won’t hire you without a BS degree. My friend went to Calhoun school and sailed chief for 12 years on tankers/lash/container and he would never be considered for an ABS job because he did not get a degree. As far a engineers go I learned more from a hawsepiper from the NYC John Brown school than any academy guy. There are good and bad from either side of the boat/ship IMHO[/QUOTE]
Agreed. Like many in this thread and as I have stated in the past, I have sailed and worked with Academy grads that were/are great and Academy grads that were/are some of the most useless engineers/mates that I have ever seen. The same can be said for those that came out of the focsle. Any method of training is only as good as what one makes of it. I do think that the one advantage KP has is the actual sea time, and on different vessels. Yet again, a Cadet has to be willing to be out there and WORK. It is the best learing anyone can have. When I was a Cadet, I put in a lot of extra hours just to learn as much as I could at the time (and blew off most of my Sea Project work. . ). Spent a lot of time in the bilge and boiler firesides, too. Nasty work for no money that paid of in spades once I was out of school. Was I nervous my first time as a Third after school? You bet. At least I had idea of what to do when things hit the fan, and that is really what the training is for. Anyone can stand a watch where things run smoothly.